What A Tripp!

El Rancho

Earlier this month Kezia got to go with all of the 4th graders at her school on a field trip to El Rancho de las Golondrinas in Santa Fe. It is an outdoor living history museum. I think some of the older kids have been, but this time, I got to go too. I was amazed at how much there was to see, and how many activities the kids were able to participate in. I took LOTS of pictures, but decided to just share a few of my faves, to give you an idea of what Kezia (and her 1 friend that walked around with us) got to do.
She got to learn about turning wool into yarn, and how it is woven, try fresh bread baked in an horno, wash wool (and keep some), try out the stocks

squeeze the “sugar” out of sorghum cane, grind corn

learn about how animal skins are cared for/turned into leather, wash clothes with a washing board, dip a candle, see how they dye the wool, sit in the old schoolhouse

see where the teacher would live at the schoolhouse

go through the old church, see the waterwheel in motion

and how it was used to grind wheat into flour and go inside a smaller grain mill.

The field trip lasted most of the school day, and involved a good amount of walking. Instead of riding the bus home, she got to ride home in a quiet, air conditioned car with a friend from church (and her mother). After listening to the sound of the pop guns that nearly every boy bought in the gift shop, I was extremely glad the school district doesn’t allow parents to ride the bus with the kids. Riding with a friend was much better!

Balloon Fiesta

Though we have lived in New Mexico for 8 years, we have never been to the annual Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. Thanks to the fire this summer and our evacuation to Abq, the family we stayed with then invited us to come back down last weekend so we could go with them to the Fiesta. We gladly took them up on their offer. Unfortunately, it poured Friday night, so we missed going to the park to see the glowing balloons and all of the special shapes. The kids danced and we watched a movie at their house and had an enjoyable time anyway. Saturday morning was clear and beautiful though, so after breakfast, we stepped out their front door to see the mass ascension. We walked to a nearby “field” and got quite the view.

We got to see a balloon land right next to us and take off again.


Another balloon landed by us and deflated.

The kids even got to help fold it up and pack it away.

We are so grateful to the Hemmerts for their kindness this year. We had a great time and I’m sure we’ll be getting together again, especially if Caemlyn and their son Josh have anything to say about it.

Fall Soccer

Another season of soccer is almost over. Yay! Zephram has worked hard and has really improved his soccer skills over the years. He only has one season left to play in the rec league, and we’ll have to see where he can go from there.

Ada is playing her second season and is doing well. She’s one of only 2 girls on the team, but is taller than most of the other kids. Luckily she doesn’t mind playing with boys and is having a great time.

Spirit Week

Living in such a small town, homecoming is a BIG deal. All of the schools celebrate spirit week in some form, and they all get out at 1pm on Friday for a fun, candy-filled parade. I didn’t take many pics of the various ways the kids dressed up through the week, except for a couple of Caemlyn that were worth recording.
She had a great idea for crazy hair day…

And then the night before super hero day, I whipped up this beauty…

While the kids were in school on Friday, and since we were having such beautiful weather, Tyghe and I had a picnic and fed the ducks at the pond. Except for getting chased by the geese, Tyghe loved it.

random

Life has been more of the same lately, with nothing too interesting to blog about. However, in an effort to stay up to date, here are a few random items of note.
School pictures. I hate to pay what they ask for such poor quality pictures. So, I have taken to snapping a few myself, with much better results. Here are the kids for this year – for our dining room wall, and grandparents (prints have already been ordered).

When I was in CA this summer, my mom gave me a few items of clothing that used to be mine. I had this beautiful periwinkle Jessica McClintock Gunne Sax dress when I was about 12, and it fits Caemlyn perfectly. Even though it is most decidedly 80s, she was more than happy to wear it to church last Sunday.

We had some lovely visitors to our yard one morning this week. While we regularly have deer in our yard, this time the kids got to see 2 bucks in the front, but then I got to see this beauty in the back yard. I went outside to take some pics, and instead of immediately running away, he stopped and stared at me so I could take my photos, and then he left.

Otherwise, it’s school, work, soccer, swimming, scouts, activity days, mutual, preschool…life as usual. Thanks goodness!

Happy Birthday Kezia

Last week, Kezia turned 9 years old. No party this year, but I did take cupcakes for her to share with a few friends after school. Since the schools here no longer allow food in the classroom, and everyone was very busy that day, we settled for a little time together on the playground. It worked out quite well. Of course, our family was so busy that day that we actually did cake/ice cream on Monday. Other than 7am, there was no time until after 8:30pm that all of us would be together. Guess that’s how it goes as your kids get older.
Happy Birthday, Beautiful Girl with Crazy Hair! We love you!

Young Eagles

Our family spent the morning at our little town airport so the 3 older kids could go up in a plane, as part of the young eagles program. Ada was pretty bummed that she couldn’t fly, but she and Tyghe did get to sit in the pilot’s seat of another airplane.

After a short wait, the kids got to climb into the plane of Justin’s swimming buddy. Kezia was first, sitting in the middle.

Then Zeph got in the back.

And Caemlyn got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat. She said it was awesome and that she even got to fly the plane for a bit. This is her after the flight.

Taking off…

And after they landed…

Back to School 2011

After a crazy, busy, hectic summer, the kids are finally back in school. They started on Monday, August 15th. Caemlyn and Zephram are both in 7th grade at the Middle School, and are thus far very happy there. {breathing a huge sigh of relief there}

Kezia is in 4th grade and Ada is in 1st and both are very happy with their teachers.

This will be an interesting year, having my kids split between 2 different schools. The older kids have to leave 1/2 an hour earlier and get home about 10 minutes earlier than the younger ones. Tyghe has one more year at home with mommy. Starting in September we will be participating in a co-op preschool with some friends from church. Hopefully it goes well and we can enjoy our last year together.

anniversary getaway

Justin and I celebrated our 14th anniversary on August 8th.  Justin’s grandmother also turned 90 on that day, so we took a quick weekend getaway to Washington to celebrate.
On Friday, we got up early and drove to Anacortes to take the ferry over to San Juan Island. It was SO foggy, we couldn’t see anything until we were almost to the island. Luckily, the rest of the day was sunny and beautiful. We walked around a little, then headed off to do what we went for – ocean kayaking. Even though this was the 2nd time we had been ocean kayaking, it was a very different experience than in Hawaii.


We had a good time though, and managed to stay out of the frigid water. While beached for lunch, we got to watch a pod of orcas swim past on their way north. Unfortunately, none of my pics show enough since they were rather far off the coast, and I didn’t have a digital camera with me.
We took the evening ferry back, with beautiful views.

Due to our long and late day Friday, we slept late on Saturday then we went to Justin’s aunt’s house for a big 90th birthday party for his grandma. We hadn’t told anyone we were coming, so Justin’s parents were quite surprised to see us. It was nice to see some of his siblings that we don’t get to see very often as well. There were even cousins there that I had never met before.
That evening, we went to downtown Seattle. We walked around, enjoying the sights, then had a very nice dinner on the water, while the sun was setting.

We headed back home Sunday morning, just in time to get the kids ready for their first day of school the next day. All in all, it was a very nice weekend.

Children’s Theater

As soon as the kids returned from their month long exodus, we hit the ground running. Caemlyn attended a week long art camp and had a great time. While she was gone during the day, Zephram, Kezia and Ada auditioned for the Missouls Children’s Theater production of The Princess and the Pea. They enjoyed their 2 hour group audition, but unfortunately, Kezia didn’t get a part. Ada got a part as one of the dust bunnies – friends of the princess.

Zephram didn’t get a part in the play, but he did get the opportunity to be one of the assistant directors. He was in charge of lighting and sound and enjoyed going to rehearsals and being part of the production.

While Kezia didn’t get to be in the play, she and Ada did attend a workshop on stage make-up. It wasn’t quite what they expected, but Kezia did get to have her face painted.

After a week of rehearsals, they put on a very nice production. They’re already looking forward to a chance to be in next year’s production.

Of course, the children did all of this while camping out in the backyard, as their bedrooms (and the living room and dining room) had been emptied of all furniture so that we could refinish the hardwood floors. Justin got started while we were in CA, but it took a lot longer than anticipated. A couple of weeks after returning, we finally finished the floors and the kids *finally* got to sleep in their own beds! The floors look lovely, but I’m not sure I ever want to do that again. Ugh.